• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Stephanie Pazos
• Instructor Email: spazos@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Wednesday 11:00-11:50 in HSSB 1227 *This seminar if by Instructor Approval Only. Please email Profesoor Pazos with interest for an add code
• Enroll Code: 56523

Course Description:  You have what it takes to succeed at UCSB, but college operates by a different set of rules than high school. This course is your guide to mastering those rules. We will uncover the 'hidden curriculum' of university success by teaching you the specific strategies you need to study smarter, not just harder. Together, we will look at your goals and build a personalized plan to manage your time and priorities. This is about giving you the tools to navigate the university system with confidence.

Bio:  Dr. Stephanie Pazos is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). She holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic and Materials Chemistry from UCLA. Dr. Pazos focuses her research on creating equitable and inclusive content for chemistry lectures and laboratory courses. As a first-generation Latina professional, she is deeply committed to mentorship and diversity in STEM, serving as the Founding Faculty Advisor for the SACNAS Graduate Student Chapter at UCSB. In addition to her academic role, she serves as Co-Owner and Staff Scientist at Heroica Technologies LLC.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: College of Creative Studies
• Instructor: Rebbecca Brown
• Instructor Email: rebbecca.brown@ccs.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 4:00-4:50 in CRST 136
• Enroll Code: 56499

Course Description:  In this introductory workshop, we will explore a number of poetic forms in order to examine how form and content can establish intricate bonds.  We will consider what is made possible when working with received forms (such as the villanelle, ghazal, elegy, pantoum, and sonnet, just to name a few) and explore how we might expand upon structural constituents by inventing our own forms that chart new poetic-experiential states.  In this class we will create our own assemblages that challenge established forms through re-envisioning and innovative collaborations with structure.

Bio:  Rebbecca Brown is author of the novel They Become Her (What Books Press), the lyrical prose collection Mouth Trap (Arc Pair Press), and the prose chapbook Anybody Home (Gnashing Teeth Press).  She currently teaches creative writing workshops and the literary publishing sequence in the College of Creative Studies.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: College of Creative Studies
• Instructor: Max Czapanskiy
• Instructor Email: maxczap@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Wednesday 9:00-9:50 in HSSB 1224
• Enroll Code: 56457

Course Description:  The California Current is one of the most productive and biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world. Stretching from British Columbia to Baja California, this ecosystem is home to 44 species of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, and the iconic Southern Sea Otter. This Discovery Seminar will cover the diversity of California Current marine mammals and their connections to California's physical, biological, and social systems. In late April we will go on a whale watching field trip.

Bio:  Max Czapanskiy is a teaching professor of marine data science in the College of Creative Studies and Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Prior to joining UCSB, they conducted research on the ecology and physiology of blue whales, penguins, and other marine predators in California, Hawaii, Alaska, and Antarctica. As a data scientist, they revel in the creative opportunities for enhancing our understanding of natural history through coding, statistics, and machine learning.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Mathematics
• Instructor: Xianzhe Dai
• Instructor Email: DAI@MATH.UCSB.EDU
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 10:00-10:50 in HSSB 1224
• Enroll Code: 56465

Course Description:  The goal of the seminar is to introduce you to the work of famous mathematicians, such as Pythagoras, Euclid, Euler, Gauss, Riemann, Noether, and Poincaré, through the book “Euler’s Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topology”.

Bio:  Xianzhe Dai is a distinguished professor of mathematics. His research field is in differential geometry and geometric analysis. Differential geometry is the study of manifolds---spaces that are locally modelled on Euclidean space. These objects arise naturally in science and engineering, as configuration spaces, as spaces of observables, as Einstein's model of universe, etc. His research sits in a natural crossroad between geometry, analysis and topology.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Mathematics
• Instructor: Matt Porter
• Instructor Email: mattporter@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 1:00-1:50 in GIRV 1108
• Enroll Code: 56531

Course Description:  Discover the often-overlooked contributions of women, first-generation scholars, and mathematicians from underrepresented groups whose work transformed modern math. Through brief readings, discussions, and accessible mini-math activities, the course highlights the importance of diverse voices in shaping scientific progress. This seminar emphasizes empowerment, community, and the discovery of role models whose paths may resonate with your own.

Bio:  Matt Porter is a continuing lecturer in the Mathematics Department at UCSB with extensive experience teaching undergraduate courses including calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, and proof-based mathematics. He is committed to making mathematics engaging and accessible for all students and enjoy highlighting connections between mathematical ideas and their broader historical and cultural contexts.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Writing Program (Journalism)
• Instructor: Tym Chajdas
• Instructor Email: tchajdas@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 5:00-5:50 in HSSB 1228
• Enroll Code: 61325

Course Description:  Does objective truth still exist? In an era of deepfakes, "alternative facts," and algorithmic echo chambers, reality is increasingly up for debate. This course investigates the battle for your mind, tracing how digital platforms manipulate perception and power. We will move beyond the headlines to dissect the mechanics of the "truth war"—from the decline of traditional journalism and the rise of surveillance capitalism to the explosion of generative AI. You won’t just study the chaos; you’ll build a toolkit to survive it. Through logic, media literacy, and ethical debate, you will learn to navigate the digital age with clarity and conviction.

Bio:  Dr. Tym Chajdas teaches a range of courses in the Professional Writing Minor spanning strategic communication, journalism, and academic writing. He is also a Lead Researcher at Harvard in Tech, Harvard University’s technology group. His interdisciplinary work bridges global studies, development, critical infrastructure research, cultural studies, and political communication. Dr. Chajdas' professional experience includes roles in journalism, media, and strategic advisory at organizations such as ITV Wales, Polish Radio, Nature Publishing Group, and Boston Consulting Group.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Art
• Instructor: Kip Fulbeck
• Instructor Email: fulbeck@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 9:00-10:50 in HSSB 1232 *This seminar meets the first 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 25635

Course Description:  The exploration of identity continues to be a focus of contemporary artists. In this interactive workshop, students will view work by various spoken word artists, filmmakers, and visual artists, and engage in lively discussions pertinent to their phase in life. Visiting artists will also speak and share their work.

Bio:  Kip Fulbeck is a Distinguished Professor of Art and affiliate faculty in Asian American Studies and Film & Media Studies. He has exhibited his artwork worldwide and has been featured on CNN, MTV, The New York Times, The TODAY Show, and numerous NPR programs. He is the author of six books and the recipient of UCSB's Distinguished Teaching Award and Faculty Diversity Award.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Donald Aue
• Instructor Email: aue@chem.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 12:00-12:50 in HSSB 1231 *The class is well-suited for chemistry and biochemistry majors, but would also be good for some students with majors within MCDB , Physics, and Engineering (like the fields of Chem E and Materials Science). Please email Professor Aue for an add code
• Enroll Code: 62042

Course Description:  Quantum calculations will be applied to problems in Chemistry and Biochemistry using Unix computers.  Students will be able to use their Mac or PC computers as terminals to access UCSB Unix computers and supercomputers to carry out the calculations using Molden and Gaussian software packages. John Pople from Northwestern University and Walter Kohn from UCSB received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the theory and software for the Gaussian program, which has had an enormous effect on the modern chemistry research (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1998/summary/). Instruction will use a combination of in-person meetings, Zoom meetings and Canvas web resources to assist students in learning to use the software and gaining a general understanding of the computational and quantum concepts involved in the calculations.  The class is well-suited for chemistry and biochemistry majors/pre-majors, but would also be good for some students with majors within MCDB , Physics, and Engineering (like the fields of Chem E and Materials Science).

Bio:  Professor Emeritus Donald Aue has taught organic chemistry at UCSB for over 56 years, won the UCSB Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award, and continues to publish research in the areas of physical organic chemistry and quantum computational chemistry.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Physics
• Instructor: David Stuart
• Instructor Email: DavidStuart@UCSB.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 12:00-12:50 in GIRV 1108
• Enroll Code: 54924

Course Description:  This seminar will discuss the physics experiments that revealed the fundamental building blocks of the universe over the course of the last century. We'll look at the questions that drove the experiments, the techniques that they used, and the impact that they had. We'll also discuss ways that undergraduate science majors can make their own contributions to modern experiments through undergraduate research projects.

Bio:  David Stuart is a professor of physics who does particle physics experiments with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These experiments involve colliding protons at high energies to create new particles, and their anti-matter partners, to study the fundamental constituents and interactions of the universe.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Morgan Gainer
• Instructor Email: mjgainer@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 2:00-2:50 in GIRV 2110 *This seminar has a field trip AND lab component
• Enroll Code: 54916

Course Description:  This seminar will explore the connections between fundamental principles of chemistry and food we love to cook and eat. We will gain hands on experience implementing these principles into food preparation in class and on a field trip to a local kitchen. Topics such as periodic trends, intramolecular forces, chemical and physical change, and the chemistry of sugars will be explored. No prior experience with chemistry (or cooking!) is required.

Bio:  I am an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. I love learning and teaching about how food and cooking can be understood through the lens of chemistry.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Computer Science
• Instructor: Maryam Majedi
• Instructor Email: majedi@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Wednesday 4:00-4:50 in HSSB 1211
• Enroll Code: 25700

Course Description:  As students begin their journey in STEM fields, it's essential to recognize that technical skills alone are not enough. This course introduces first-year students to the ethical complexities embedded in scientific and technological endeavors. Students will explore how some designs and innovations can inadvertently impact society, perpetuate biases, and lead to unintended consequences if ethical considerations are overlooked.

Through interactive discussions, case studies, and real-world examples, students will learn to identify and address ethical challenges such as privacy violations, discrimination, and inequality in technical design. This course encourages students to think critically about their roles as future engineers, scientists, and technologists, highlighting the importance of responsible decision-making that promotes inclusivity and fairness.

Bio:  Dr. Maryam Majedi joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as an Assistant Teaching Professor in 2023. She completed a teaching stream postdoc at the University of Toronto, where she worked with the Embedded Ethics Education Initiative (E3I) team and introduced the first ethics modules for CS courses in Canada.

Dr. Majedi earned her Ph.D. in Data Privacy at the University of Calgary. Her Ph.D. work presents a novel privacy policy modeling technique. Prior to her Ph.D., she earned a Master of Science degree in High-Performance Scientific Computing from the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Majedi also completed a fellowship in Medical Innovation at Western University.

Dr. Majedi's research primarily revolves around Embedded Ethics and Data Privacy. She explores the intersection of computer science and ethical considerations, aiming to develop modules that facilitate the integration of ethics and data privacy principles into computer science education.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Philosophy
• Instructor: Daniel Korman
• Instructor Email: dkorman@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 3:00-3:50 in HSSB 1211
• Enroll Code: 54965

Course Description:  Each week, we’ll examine an argument for a radical or controversial conclusion, including: that God does not exist, that you have no free will, that you don’t know anything, that it’s irrational to fear death, that abortion is immoral, that eating meat is immoral, and that taxation is immoral.

Bio:  Philosophy Professor

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Political Science
• Instructor: Clayton Nall
• Instructor Email: nall@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 1:00-1:50 - HSSB 1207
• Enroll Code: 54940

Course Description:  What does social science research have to say about undergraduate life?  In this seminar, we'll be reading classic, new, and myth-busting scholarship about college.  Where did modern US research universities like UCSB come from?  What do students want from college?  What do universities claim to deliver students, and do they actually deliver it?  What are the major obstacles to student success?  Why do campus reforms designed to improve access to opportunity so often fail?

Bio:  Professor Nall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science.  His research has sought to explain how policies that change geographic space change American politics, and his recent research has examined how people understand and respond to efforts to build needed housing in their communities.  His first book, The Road to Inequality: How the Federal Highway Program Polarized America and Undermined Cities (Cambridge University Press, 2018) uses a range of new data sources constructed from public archives and databases to examine how the largest public works project in U.S. history created Republican suburbs, increased the urban-suburban political divide, and worsened spatial inequality in the nation's metro areas.

Professor Nall has been an active supporter of undergraduate social science research, training many students on survey and public policy research.  He has hired dozens of undergrads as research assistants and has advised many senior honors theses.  Over the past two years, his passion project has been a collaboration with third- and fourth-year poli sci majors examining the job placement performance of Ph.D. programs in political science.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: COMM
• Instructor: Walid Afifi
• Instructor Email: w-afifi@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 3:00-3:50  in HSSB 1211
• Enroll Code: 54932

Course Description:  This seminar will host guest speakers who will share their expertise in basic financial literacy topics. Covered topics will include financial aid, scholarships, investing, budgeting, saving, credit, taxes, insurance and post-grad adulting. The class is meant to be introductory. Students are encouraged to ask even the most basic questions without fear of judgment as this is a safe, welcoming space to learn.

Bio:  Walid Afifi is a Professor in the Dept of Communication. He is committed to research, teaching, and service that involves and empowers all communities, and has been recognized for that work by UCSB's Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity through the "Esteemed Ally Award" and the through the Margaret Getman Service to Students Award. This class emerged from a community engagement class, in which students identified a need for more financial literacy resources.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: chemical engineering
• Instructor: Todd Squires
• Instructor Email: tsquires@ucsb.edu

• Day - Time - Room: Monday 9:00-10:50 in 570 1200 *This seminar meet for the FIRST 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 25718

• Day - Time - Room: Monday 1:00-2:50 in 570 1200 *This seminar meet for the First 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 25726

Course Description:  Each of you has used shampoo and toothpaste almost every day of your life (I hope), yet have you ever stopped to think about how incredible these products are?  Why does shampoo flow as slow as honey, but spread into your hair so much more easily (and less painfully)?  How can hand sanitizer pump out of the bottle, but sit in a little pile on your hand until you spread it?  Come learn how these products work by making your own in lab!  Current plans are to do shampoo, hand sanitizer, moisturizing lotion, and lip balm.

Bio:  Todd Squires has been a Professor of UCSB Chemical Engineering since 2005,  and is faculty advisor for UCSB's student chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.    He earned undergraduate degrees in Physics and Russian Language and Literature at UCLA in 1995, and his PhD in Physics from Harvard in 2002.  His research involves "complex fluids", with applications in consumer products, the function and dysfunction of lung surfactants, and water treatment membranes.  He has two kids in college and one in elementary school, which has helped him understand both how exciting -- and how stressful -- the transition to college can be.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Mathematics
• Instructor: Paul Atzberger
• Instructor Email: atzberg@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 10:00-10:50 in HSSB 1224
• Enroll Code: 54957

Course Description:  The ability of recently engineered machine learning algorithms and natural systems to perform inference and generalize well from limited finite data observations poses interesting challenges and open problems.   This seminar will discuss both practical algorithms for applications and related rigorous mathematical theory.  Examples include the approximation and generative abilities of deep learning with recent types of neural networks, formulations and training of unsupervised methods such as transformers, diffusion-models, autoencoders, and non-neural network approaches such as support vector machines, kernel methods, and probabilistic methods. A central emphasis will be on the role of mathematical theory and how this can be used to guide the design of machine learning algorithms, perform training, and carry out analysis to evaluate performance.

Bio:  Paul J. Atzberger studied mathematics at the Courant Institute at New York University where he received his PhD. After a post-doc, he then joined the faculty at the University of California Santa Barbara. His research is in stochastic analysis, scientific computation, and machine learning. He also works on related problems arising in the natural sciences and engineering.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Spanish and Portuguese
• Instructor: Antonio Cortijo & Elide Valarini Oliver
• Instructor Email: cortijo@ucsb.edu, elideoliver@spanport.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 1:00-2:50 in GIRV 1116
• Enroll Code: 56549

Course Description:  This seminar will provide an introducion to the culture and history of Latin America from pre-Columbian to contemporary times. It will focus on one most vibrant and fast-growing areas in the world that encompases numerous distinct areas and cultures and a complex and passionate history.

Bio:  Distinguished Professor Antonio Cortijo Ocaña analyzes in his research the ideological structures and tensions that have forged the Modern Period across the Atlantic and across the languages and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula. He deals with issues such as nation building, power and ideology, religion and economy in the late medieval through 18th  centuries, as well as with the larger topic of the relevance of Humanism in the creation of the modern nations. He is the author of over 60 monographs and editions and more than 200 articles.

Professor Valarini Oliver specializes in Brazilian literature (Baroque and Colonial, 19th Century, Modernism, Contemporary), Brazilian film, Brazilian music, Comparative literature, Portuguese literature (Early Modern, 19th and 20th centuries) History of ideas, History of art, Music, Philosophy, Literary criticism, theory and practice of translation, aiming at its proper contextualization within Brazilian culture, and its significance beyond its borders. Professor Valarini Oliver works within hermeneutical intercultural contexts between literatures (Brazilian, French, Irish, German), aesthetics (Music, Visual Arts) and philosophy of science and language. Her most recent work focuses on Machado de Assis, Guimarães Rosa, nature and nationalism, philosophy of science and language. She is the recipient of a Jabuti Prize (2007), and twice the recipient of the Itamaraty Prize for Brazilian Literature/Brazilian Academy of Letters with A Poesia de Machado no Século XXI: Revisita, Revisão in 2006 and with Ácida? Amarga? O sabor da sátira em Lima Barreto in 2008. She is also the recipient of Brazil's National Library "Paulo Rónai" Award for Translation with Gargantua by François Rabelais (Ateliê Editorial/UNICAMP) in 2022.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: College of Creative Studies
• Instructor: Kara Mae Brown & Steve Smith
• Instructor Email: kmbrown@ucsb.edu, ssmith13@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 3:00-4:50 in HSSB 3202 *This seminar has a field trip
• Enroll Code: 59642

Course Description:  In his book, On Trails: An Exploration, the environmental journalist Robert Moor says, “In bewildering times - when all the old ways seem to be dissolving into mire - it serves us well to turn our eyes earthward and study the oft-overlooked wisdom beneath our feet.” In this Discovery Seminar, we will do just that. Students will hike some of Santa Barbara’s beloved trails in order to experience how, from a psychological perspective, walking and being outdoors can bolster our wellbeing and creativity. Then, students will harness that creativity to write meaningfully about nature, place, and the environment.

Bio:  Kara Mae Brown is an Associate Teaching Professor in both the Writing Program and the College of Creative Studies' Writing & Literature major. She a creative writer and scholar of the teaching of writing. Her essays, fiction, and poems have appeared in literary journals such as Lit Angels, About Place Journal, Crack the Spine, Hawaii Review, and Plainsongs. Her scholarship has most recently focused on teaching writing at the intersection of science and creative writing.

Steve Smith, PhD is a licensed psychologist and Teaching Professor and Chair of the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. He also serves as the Associate Dean of the College of Creative Studies. He is interested in psychological theory, assessment, interdisciplinary musings, and the psychological needs of men and boys.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Writing Program & Writing Program
• Instructor: James Donelan & Christopher Dean
• Instructor Email: donelan@ucsb.edu, cdean@writing.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 2:00-3:50 in ILP 3316
• Enroll Code: 59873

Course Description:  An examination of the revolution of rock n’ roll and other popular musical idioms from an interdisciplinary perspective, with topics including the following:
-Today in Rock History: The Origins of Rock Music in the Multicultural American Folk and Blues Tradition
-No. 1 with a Bullet: Radio Airplay, the Top 40, and Popular Music
-The Girl Can’t Help It: Gender, Sexism, and Feminism in Rock n’ Roll
-The Science of Rock I: Music Theory, Blues Progressions, and Rocking Rhythms
-The Science of Rock II: Electric Instruments and Amplification
-The Economic History of Rock I: The Brill Building and the Wrecking Crew
-The Economic History of Rock II: R and B, Motown, and Crossover
-The Sociology of Rock: Heavy Metal and Punk
-The Philosophy of Rock: New Wave
-Rocking the Future: New Directions in Music
Materials include videos, playlists, and live performances, along with readings from Lester Bangs and other rock critics.

Bio:  JAMES DONELAN is a lecturer in the Writing Program who also plays electric and string bass. He frequently writes about classical music, but can still lay down a groove.

CHRISTOPHER DEAN is a lecturer in the Writing Program who sings, plays guitar, and wails on the harmonica. He rocks.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: History
• Instructor: Paul Spickard & Kip Fulbeck
• Instructor Email: ethelred@ucsb.edu, fulbeck@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 10:00-11:50 in GIRV 1115
• Enroll Code: 55012

Course Description:  Young men today navigate a complicated minefield, receiving conflicting information both in person and online. What does it mean, exactly, to be a man? Should I pursue an education? How can I make a living? How do I relate to women? To other men? Do I want a partner? If so, how do I find this person? Do I want a family? What then are my responsibilities and possibilities? Men of color face extra complications in all these areas. This seminar explores these topics in a safe, open, and honest setting, and can help young men of all races learn to make good choices. Guest speakers are featured regularly.

Bio:  Paul Spickard is a Distinguished Professor of History and affiliate faculty in Black Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, East Asian Studies, Religious Studies, and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He has taught at fifteen universities in the United States and abroad, and is the author or editor of 25 books on race, migration, and related topics. He is the recipient of UCSB's Distinguished Teaching Award and Faculty Diversity Award.

Kip Fulbeck is a Distinguished Professor of Art and affiliate faculty in Asian American Studies and Film & Media Studies. He has exhibited his artwork worldwide and has been featured on CNN, MTV, The New York Times, The TODAY Show, and numerous NPR programs. He is the author of six books and the recipient of UCSB's Distinguished Teaching Award and Faculty Diversity Award.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Theater and Dance
• Instructor: Irwin Appel
• Instructor Email: irwinappel@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesdays 5:00-5:50 in TD-W 2517
• Enroll Code: 62638

Course Description:  Do you struggle to understand Shakespeare?  In this seminar we will focus on a close reading of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech, going deep into its mystery and complexity.  Taught by a professional actor and director, this seminar is a chance to both understand Shakespeare on a more personal level and to discover what makes a play like Hamlet truly come alive.

Bio:  Irwin Appel is Professor of Theater and a professional director, actor, and composer/sound designer, having worked and performed at theaters throughout the US and Europe. He is the founder and artistic director of Naked Shakes, producing Shakespeare’s plays at UCSB and nationally and internationally since 2006. He has performed and/or led workshops and presentations about Naked Shakes throughout the US and in China, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Armenia, Switzerland, Bahamas and the UK. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Spanish and Portuguese
• Instructor: Silvia Bermúdez
• Instructor Email: bermudez@spanport.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 2:00-3:50 in HSSB 1233 *This seminar will meet for the first 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 62000

Course Description:  Spanish women artists, despite their significant contributions, have been overshadowed by contemporary figures such as Picasso and Dalí. Our Discovery Seminar offers a unique exploration of a lesser-known aspect of Spanish art and culture. Within their historical, political, and artistic contexts, students will explore the imaginative work of well-recognized personalities such as Maruja Mallo (1902-1995), Roser Bru (1923-2021), Lucinda Urrusti (1929-2023), Marta Palau (1934-2022), and Mar Caldas (1964).

Bio:  Silvia Bermúdez is Professor of literature and Iberian Studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese where she teaches courses on modern and contemporary Spanish literary and cultural history, popular music studies, and feminist studies.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Music
• Instructor: Janet Bourne
• Instructor Email: jbourne@music.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 10:00-10:50 in HSSB 1233
• Enroll Code: 62018

Course Description:  Using the popular podcast "If Books Could Kill" as a jumping off point, this seminar looks at how to spot misinformation, bias, misleading graphics and data, and evaluate claims made in best-selling books. How can you figure out if a claim is misleading or not? What kind of evidence is strong? What are the biases involved? This seminar will not only help you spot misleading information published in popular presses, but also hopefully help you not make the same mistakes. Students will listen to specific podcast episodes and complete supplementary readings designed to help them go deeper.

Bio:  Janet Bourne is interested in who is listening and, from a cognitive perspective, why listeners find certain interpretations of music intuitive. Her research interests include analogy, metaphor and music, cognition behind listening, modes of listening, topic theory, schema theory, narrative and associations, music theory pedagogy, and representations of gender, race, and ability in film music. In terms of repertoire, she focuses on postmillennial Hollywood film music and Austro-Germanic music of the long eighteenth-century. Combining traditional music-theoretic tools with concepts and methodologies from cognitive science, she runs (and founded) the UCSB Music Cognition Lab. She has publications in Music Theory Online, Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening (winner of 2023 publication award from SMT’s Film and Multimedia Interest Group), Music Analysis, and Film: Studying the Score, Norton Guide to Teaching Music Theory, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy, among others. She has presented her research at regional, national, and international conferences, including the Society for Music Theory and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Her book Who Listens? Experience, Cognition, and Musical Meaning is out with Oxford University Press as part of the Oxford Studies in Music Theory series. It describes a cognitively-based framework for analyzing music from the perspective of different listeners and various modes of listening. She is also obsessed with the podcast If Books Could Kill.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Mattanjah de Vries
• Instructor Email: devries@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 12:00-12:50 in PSB-N 4606
• Enroll Code: 26310

Course Description:  A Gallup Poll shows that 76% of Americans don’t fully support the theory of evolution. Should there be stickers on biology books, warning that evolution is only a theory? Should we worry about climate change or is that a hoax? Is alternate medicine just quackery or is it systematically suppressed by the mainstream medical establishment? Is intelligent design covered up by biologists? Are vaccines dangerous? Science appears to be doubted and beleaguered from many sides. What do the courts have to say? Explore the history and philosophy of science. Be skeptical and decide whether science can be trusted.

Bio:  Mattanjah de Vries is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research uses advanced laser techniques to study the chemistry that may have led to the origin of life and to study topics in cultural heritage science, Examples include the properties of pigments in precious paintings and traces of food residues in archaeological pottery. His teaching includes classes on environmental chemistry, analytical chemistry, and photochemistry.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Writing Program
• Instructor: Tymoteusz (Tym) Chajdas
• Instructor Email: tchajdas@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 1:00-1:50 in HSSB 1211
• Enroll Code: 60186

Course Description:  In today’s digital world, information is constantly filtered, manipulated, and shared, reshaping our understanding of truth as well as political and commercial power. This seminar dives into the "truth war," examining how fake news and algorithms influence global politics, social movements, and public opinion. Through real-world case studies and critical debates, students will explore the ethical challenges of information sharing, media manipulation and algorithmic control. Whether you’re studying media, political science, technology, business, or ethics, this seminar equips you with the tools to critically assess how digital media shape global power and personal decision-making.

Bio:  Dr. Tym Chajdas teaches a range of courses in the Professional Writing Minor spanning strategic communication, journalism, and academic writing. He is also a Lead Researcher at Harvard in Tech, Harvard University’s technology group. His interdisciplinary work bridges global studies, development, critical infrastructure research, cultural studies, and political communication. Dr. Chajdas' professional experience includes roles in journalism, media, and strategic advisory at organizations such as ITV Wales, Polish Radio, Nature Publishing Group, and Boston Consulting Group.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Theater and Dance
• Instructor: William Davies King
• Instructor Email: king@theaterdance.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Wednesday 5:00-5:50 in TD-W 2517
• Enroll Code: 60194

Course Description:  Study of diverse aspects of personal collecting: its psychology, history, sociology, economics, and artistic application. How does personal collecting differ from and sometimes intersect with institutional collecting? How does personal collecting function as a dimension of one’s life story? How does one’s life story relate to the material values of American society and culture? How does collecting differ from hoarding or maximalism? How is collecting—and ownership, more generally—developing in the present moment? Using readings, demonstrations, and practical exercises, the course will look at these questions.

Bio:  William Davies King is Emeritus Professor of Theater, but alongside his important career as a theater historian, he is a lifelong collector. In 2008, he published Collections of Nothing, part essay and part memoir about becoming a collector of much stuff, which he provocatively calls "nothing." He has also written plays about collecting and has devised two trial versions of a Museum of Nothing Much. He is currently writing a new book about collecting, with the working title: Having Had: Thinking Through Collecting.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Music Composition, College of Creative Studies
• Instructor: Andrew Watts
• Instructor Email: aawatts@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Fridays from 10:00-10:50 in SSMS 1304
• Enroll Code: 60202

Course Description:  This seminar offers an academic exploration into the intersection of technology and identity. This course examines how photography, digital editing, and artificial intelligence shape self-representation and perception. Students will develop skills in capturing and editing images, while critically analyzing AI's role in redefining reality and self. The seminar culminates in creating a personal portfolio, reflecting each student's technical proficiency and philosophical insights on authenticity in the digital era. This course is an invitation to engage with the evolving narrative of self in our technologically advanced world.

Bio:  Andrew A. Watts is a composer of chamber, symphonic, multimedia, and electro-acoustic works regularly performed throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. His compositions have been premiered at world-renowned venues such as Burning Man, Ravinia, Boston's Jordan Hall, Darmstadt, and the Holywell Music Room. Watts has written for many of today’s top new music groups, including Dal Niente, Ekmeles, Proton Bern, Distractfold, RAGE Thormbones, Splinter Reeds, Quince, and Line Upon Line. Recently, Watts premiered an open instrumentation quartet, A Strobe Fractures Obsidian Night, which utilizes AI-generated video and multichannel audio. He completed his D.M.A. in Composition at Stanford University, received his master's with distinction from the University of Oxford, and his bachelor's with academic honors from the New England Conservatory. He has been a featured composer at the MATA Festival, impuls Academy, Rainy Days Festival, Delian Academy, Young Composers Meeting, Cheltenham Music Festival, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Composit Festival, Ostrava Days Institute, highSCORE Festival, Wellesley Composers Conference, Etchings Festival, Fresh Inc. Festival, New Music on the Point, and Atlantic Music Festival. Watts is currently on the Music Composition faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s College of Creative Studies.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Morgan Gainer
• Instructor Email: mjgainer@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 2:00-2:50 in GIRV 1106 *This seminar has a field trip and lab component
• Enroll Code: 62380

Course Description:  This seminar will explore the connections between fundamental principles of chemistry and food we love to cook and eat. We will gain hands on experience implementing these principles into food preparation in class and on a field trip to a local kitchen. Topics such as periodic trends, intramolecular forces, chemical and physical change, and the chemistry of sugars will be explored. No prior experience with chemistry (or cooking!) is required.

Bio:  I am an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. I love learning and teaching about how food and cooking can be understood through the lens of chemistry.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Computer Science
• Instructor: Maryam Majedi
• Instructor Email: majedi@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesdays 4:00-4:50 in GIRV 2124
• Enroll Code: 26377

Course Description:  As students begin their journey in STEM fields, it's essential to recognize that technical skills alone are not enough. This course introduces first-year students to the ethical complexities embedded in scientific and technological endeavors. Students will explore how some designs and innovations can inadvertently impact society, perpetuate biases, and lead to unintended consequences if ethical considerations are overlooked.

Through interactive discussions, case studies, and real-world examples, students will learn to identify and address ethical challenges such as privacy violations, discrimination, and inequality in technical design. This course encourages students to think critically about their roles as future engineers, scientists, and technologists, highlighting the importance of responsible decision-making that promotes inclusivity and fairness.

Bio:  Dr. Maryam Majedi joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as an Assistant Teaching Professor in 2023. She completed a teaching stream postdoc at the University of Toronto, where she worked with the Embedded Ethics Education Initiative (E3I) team and introduced the first ethics modules for CS courses in Canada.

Dr. Majedi earned her Ph.D. in Data Privacy at the University of Calgary. Her Ph.D. work presents a novel privacy policy modeling technique. Prior to her Ph.D., she earned a Master of Science degree in High-Performance Scientific Computing from the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Majedi also completed a fellowship in Medical Innovation at Western University.

Dr. Majedi's research primarily revolves around Embedded Ethics and Data Privacy. She explores the intersection of computer science and ethical considerations, aiming to develop modules that facilitate the integration of ethics and data privacy principles into computer science education.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology
• Instructor: Miriam Thompson
• Instructor Email: miriameadyt@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 3:00-3:50 in HSSB 1223
• Enroll Code: 62026

Course Description:  Colleges and universities are beacons of higher learning, free inquiry, diversity of thought, intellectual creativity, and discovery. This academic landscape provides students with opportunities to acquire new skills, gain exposure to different ideas, and learn from different perspectives. Meaningful learning happens when students explore viewpoints that are different from their own because it allows them to acquire new information, which expands their scope of understanding. Nonetheless, many people tend to engage in binary thinking (i.e., seeing people with shared viewpoints as “all good” and others with different viewpoints as “all bad”), which may prevent them from being open to different viewpoints. Many of these individuals reside in echo chambers where their similarly held beliefs are reinforced, insulating them from dissenting opinions.

In that regard, why do we develop strong belief systems? Why do we feel defensive when our beliefs are questioned or challenged? Why is it hard to hear perspectives that differ from our own? These questions will guide students as they engage in critical thinking, viewpoint diversity, and respectful dialogue. Students will be asked to reflect on their own perspectives or beliefs and will consider what influenced their stance on these matters. In particular, students will be exposed students to a range perspectives and issues that are: less known (e.g., the struggles of men and boys), novel (e.g., Theory of Racelessness), ill-founded (e.g., “jensenism”), pseudoscientific (e.g., phrenology), controversial (e.g., criticism of DEI programming), and questionable (e.g., re-evaluation of social emotional learning programs for children and adolescents).

Each week, students will read, watch, or listen to something that challenges their beliefs on a particular issue or introduces them to a different perspective.

This course is intended to help students to conduct a more critical, thoughtful examination of the content they consume. This course also aims to inspire viewpoint diversity, critical thinking, and civil disagreement.

Bio:  Dr. Miriam Eady Thompson is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. She is also a licensed psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and the Director of Mind and Behavior Assessment Clinic (MBAC) at UCSB. As a teaching professor and assessment clinic director, Dr. Thompson trains graduate students in the ethical administration of standardized psychological assessments. She primarily teaches assessment courses on personality, neuropsychological, psychoeducational, and cognitive functioning. Dr. Thompson’s greatest source of fulfillment comes from teaching, training, and interacting with students

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: chemical engineering
• Instructor: Todd Squires
• Instructor Email: tsquires@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 9:00-10:50 in 570 1200 *This seminar meet for the first 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 26435

• Day - Time - Room: Friday 1:00-2:50 in 570 1200 *This seminar meet for the first 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 26443
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Course Description:  Each of you has used shampoo and toothpaste almost every day of your life (I hope), yet have you ever stopped to think about how incredible these products are?  Why does shampoo flow as slow as honey, but spread into your hair so much more easily (and less painfully)?  How can hand sanitizer pump out of the bottle, but sit in a little pile on your hand until you spread it?  Come learn how these products work by making your own in lab!  Current plans are to do shampoo, hand sanitizer, moisturizing lotion, and lip balm.

Bio:  Todd Squires has been a Professor of UCSB Chemical Engineering since 2005,  and is faculty advisor for UCSB's student chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.    He earned undergraduate degrees in Physics and Russian Language and Literature at UCLA in 1995, and his PhD in Physics from Harvard in 2002.  His research involves "complex fluids", with applications in consumer products, the function and dysfunction of lung surfactants, and water treatment membranes.  He has two kids in college and one in elementary school, which has helped him understand both how exciting -- and how stressful -- the transition to college can be.

• INT 87AG – “ Hammer Horror”

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Spanish and Portuguese
• Instructor: Jorge Luis Castillo and Eloi Grasset
• Instructor Email: castillo@ucsb.edu, eloigrasset@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Mondays 2:00 to 3:50 in PHELP 1445
• Enroll Code: 62398

Course Description:  Hammer Film Productions was founded in 1934. The company is best known for a series of Gothic horror films made between 1957 and 1976. It featured classic horror characters such as Baron Frankenstein, Count Dracula, The Mummy and the Wolf Man, re-introduced to audiences in vivid color for the first time. During its heyday, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. Yet Hammer Films also ventured successfully in other genres such as Science-Fiction, War Films, Historical Dramas, Comedies, and Contemporary Thrillers. Hammer's films were considered low brow entertainment back in its day, but its films were immensely popular, not just because of the graphic violence shown on screen but because they made explicit the hitherto concealed sexual subtexts of Gothic horror. The seminar is an overview/reading of classic Hammer Films, with an emphasis on the horror genre plus some Hammer influenced horror films as points of comparison.

Bio:  Jorge Luis Castillo is a Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A prize-winning fiction writer, he is the author of the short-story collections La vida vulgar y otros relatos (2004, PEN Club of Puerto Rico Award), La virgen de los boleros (2015, PEN Club Award), and the forthcoming Todo es olvido y otros relatos (Isla Negra Editores, 2025). His fiction interlaces memory, exile, history, and identity across Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States.

As a scholar, Castillo has published widely on Latin American literature, with particular focus on poetry, narrative, and performance studies. At UCSB he teaches courses on authors such as Rubén Darío, Jorge Luis Borges, and contemporary Nicaraguan poets, as well as thematic seminars on Latin American poetry and short fiction. He is a corresponding member of the Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua.

Eloi Grasset is is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He teaches courses on Iberian cultures, literatures, and visual media, with recent offerings on topics such as soccer in the Hispanic world, Almodóvar’s Spain, Barcelona’s urban imagination, everyday life under Franco, and food culture in Spain. He is the author of La trama mortal. Pere Gimferrer y la política de la literatura (1962–1985) (The Mortal Plot: Pere Gimferrer and the Politics of Literature), the first in-depth study of Gimferrer’s pivotal role in reshaping Spain and Catalonia’s cultural field from the late Franco regime to the democratic transition. His current book project, Food Culture and Political Ideologies in 20th-Century Catalonia, explores how culinary practices and discourses helped construct the Catalan national imaginary.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Writing Program
• Instructor: Baron Haber & Ken Hiltner
• Instructor Email: baronhaber@ucsb.edu, hiltner@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 12:00-1:50 in ILP 4207
• Enroll Code: 62109

Course Description:  This discovery seminar explores the youth climate movement, with hopes that you will feel inspired to join it. We will read texts, watch movies, and listen to podcasts about (and by) activists from the rising generation to study their fight to transform the systems that drive climate change. To make these global issues local, the seminar will look at the history of climate activism at UCSB. We will also examine diversity and inclusion within the climate movement, considering topics like environmental justice and environmental racism. Students will create public-facing texts to promote climate action.

Bio:  Baron Haber is a Lecturer for the UCSB Writing Program, specializing in teaching about sustainability. He received his PhD in English from UCSB, and also holds his MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research about environmental justice within Global Anglophone literature has appeared in the journals darkmatter and ARIEL.

Ken Hiltner is a professor of the environmental humanities at UCSB. He is the author of three books (Milton and Ecology, What Else is Pastoral, and Writing a New Environmental Era: Moving Forward to Nature), a range of articles, and has edited three additional books. In addition to the UCSB, Ken has taught at Harvard, where he received his Ph.D., and at Princeton University, where he served for a year as the Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Visiting Professor in the Environment and Humanities at Princeton's Environmental Institute (PEI). Ken was the founding Director of both UCSB’s Literature and the Environment Center and the Environmental Humanities Initiative. Currently, he is the faculty Co-chair of the Chancellor’s Sustainability Committee, Chair of UCSB’s Sustainable Transportation Committee, and Director of the T. A. Barron Environmental Leadership Program. On a personal note, prior to becoming a professor, for two decades Ken made his living as a furniture.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: MCDB
• Instructor: Matthieu Louis
• Instructor Email: mlouis@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 10:00-11:50 in BSIF 1217
• Enroll Code: 60327

Course Description:  This introductory course explores the intersection between gastronomy and neuroscience, focusing on the principles underlying food perception. Through hands-on experiments, we reveal the molecular and cellular mechanisms that shape our senses of taste and smell. For instance, we will examine the genetic basis that makes cilantro taste delightful to some and soapy to others. By understanding multi-sensory integration, we will discuss why it is a secret weapon for any skilled cook. During the whole class, theory is presented through interactive demonstrations, offering a practical approach to understanding flavor science. Guest lectures by other faculty and professionals will provide complementary perspectives on this interdisciplinary field. Additionally, the course covers basics of experimental design, data analysis and hypothesis testing.

Bio:  Dr. Louis received his BA/MA in Theoretical Physics from the Free University of Brussels (Belgium). For his PhD research, he was a pre-doctoral fellow of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). He graduated in Systems Biology from the University of Cambridge. His doctoral thesis focused on modeling the function of a gene regulatory network during Drosophila development. During the completion of his thesis, Dr. Louis became increasingly interested in the function of neural networks. He joined the laboratory of Leslie Vosshall at the Rockefeller University where he studied the mechanisms underlying the detection of olfactory signals in the Drosophila larva. At end of his post-doctoral training, Dr. Louis became a junior Group Leader at the EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Unit of the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona (Spain). As an independent investigator, he worked on delineating how orientation decisions emerge from neural computations carried out by the larval brain. Since Summer 2016, he is a faculty at the University of California Santa Barbara.